chubbybunny

Ahh this is a well kept secret. What I will tell you is that they call it a communication exercise rather than an interview for a reason :)

Unless you carpool, there really is no getting out of the driving to clinical. If you're in the trimester program, you do the majority of your clinical rotations at Long Beach Memorial so that may give you some security since you'll get to know the roads by then. If you live with someone within your cohort, you may be able to snag the same clinical group as him/her and carpool. Otherwise, sorry I can't be of much help here ?

This really depends on where you are in your general education requirements, which you will find out during SOAR. Sorry I can't be of much help here! Most students finish their GE before entering the program. I HIGHLY recommend taking patho and pharm before 1st semester. It takes a whole load off of you that you really wouldn't understand unless you were going through the misery of taking fundamentals, patho, and pharm all at once.

Nope! Just be ready to soak it all in and wear clothes that are easy to take on and off because you'll be trying on your new uniforms to order. Also, there will be raffles and stuff so bring cash if you would like to participate. They raffle a stethoscope every semester!

I'm in the trimester program, and it is literally taking names out of a hat. So generally yes, most people get their first choice. If 45 people want semester and there are only 30 spots (which is the usual number), the first 30 names that get drawn who choose semester will get those spots and the rest will be routed to trimester.

Hi everyone! I'm a 5th semester student in this program and here to answer all of your burning questions!

You are still allowed in the program but are required to complete the series as soon as possible while in the program.

My schedule consisted of one day of patho/pharm lecture, another day of fundamentals lecture, one day of fundamentals clinical, and one day of careplanning (won't happen until week 5 because first few weeks are skills focused and your care planning day may or mY not fall on the same day as one of your lecture days). The schedule changes some semesters but it seems like it's pretty much the same as mine at least since I've been in the program. Days will differ but same format. Hope this helps!

Im in the trimester program, which is nice because it's faster but also is more difficult, has a full ICU rotation whereas semester doesn't get a "real" ICU rotation, you get to know Long Beach memorial really well because you do the majority of your clinical rotations there and may end up receiving a contract to work there after graduation. Semester is easier from what I hear (don't quote me), more variety of clinical sites which may mean more commuting, but takes 2.5 years to complete which to me is a drag which is why I chose trimester. Hope this helps!

Congratulations to everyone who was accepted!! If you have any questions about the program, what's coming next, or about classes please feel free to ask!

Photo please! See you guys there if you're scheduled after 10am í ½í¹‚

Yes the years with 11s is including the exercise. What do you mean by a capstone course? Also, I have always known I wanted to be an ICU nurse. I'm in my ICU rotation now which only solidified that interest. As you rotate through the different clinical settings you will likely find what unit you want to enter when you graduate. Many students go into the program keeping an open mind and just letting the clinical rotations speak for themselves, which is absolutely great because it ensures that you don't have any biases toward the different classes. Other students either know exactly what they want to do after graduation, some don't know even after graduation and work in the float pool to find their passion, and then there are students who drop because they realize they don't want to be a nurse. The important thing is that you make the most out of each rotation. Hope this helps !

You will be receiving an email.

It will be one day but different time slots. Your acceptance email will prompt you to call the school of nursing and select a time slot on that day that best fits your schedule. The time slots are from 8-4 and Each slot is one hour so your exercise will only be within that one hour.

Hi everyone! I'm currently a third semester student in the program. Please feel free to ask me any questions you'd like. I will also be at your communication exercise as a resource. To put some questions to rest, The 9.4 is indeed without the communication exercise. For the exercise you either get both points or you don't get any meaning you didn't get in. We usually don't include it in the point stats since those are only for people who were accepted so it's implied that they receive the full 2 points. Cathy

Congrats to everyone who attended orientation today!!!! You're one step closer to having that BSN behind your name. For future communicative purposes, I recommend you make a facebook group for your cohort. It will probably come in handy!

How is your lifestyle as a CRNA? Do you have a lot of time for family and hobbies? And during your 3-4 days of work are you usually working beyond 12 hours? Also, with taking 100k out for loans, do you think it will be easy to pay them off in the span of 5 years with a newly hired CRNA salary? Thank you so much in advance!

since they are corequisites, they aren't one of those classes that have to be completed during the Spring. Those are only actual prerequisites. You can take patho and pharm over the summer and have Monalisa give you course equivalency. You can always email her to be sure.

Hey guys!! For those of you that I didn't see at the interview, here are some preliminary things you should get done or plan to get done before starting in the Fall! -Take the GPE. The earlier you do this, the better, just to get it out of the way. -Save at least $1000. You will have to purchase the ATI bundle which is about $800 not to mention clinical gear, textbooks, SOAR, parking passes, and other expenses. You can find most of the first semester books as online PDFs if you want to save some money or are just into e-books. If you can, buy some things beforehand so you don't have one massive hole in your wallet at once, like stethoscope, shoes for clinical, a WhiteCoat clipboard (very handy for clinical), things like that. -TAKE PHARM AND PATHO. I can't stress this enough. You will save yourself so much time, stress, and anxiety if you get these classes done beforehand. Bonus points if you take nutrition beforehand too, although I hear its an easy class so it doesn't really matter if you take this first. If you won't be completing patho and pharm by the start of the program, though, at least try to take Nutrition first. -Start developing healthy habits such as eating breakfast every morning, getting enough sleep, reading to keep your brain up and moving, etc... -Take the time to have fun because nursing school leaves very little room for anything else. Travel, make memories, break a world record! Good luck to everyone still awaiting acceptances!!

It shouldn't be very sifficult for you guys to find parking. If you are not a current CSULB student, park in the short term parking spaces and pay for two hour parking ($8) those spaces are on the left side of th parking lot if you're coming from Bellflower and making a right onto beach. Pay at the machines located by the short term parking spots. I would still recommend that you come early though to find parking and have time to ask current students any questions you may have!

Hi!! So you are put into clinical groups and the days and times of your various classes and clinical are scheduled for you, so you cannot pick. Catherine Mullins will ask you guys at your nursing orientation to tell her ahead of time what days and times you are and aren't available. All of this semester's classes for both the semester and trimester groups start in the AM and end early afternoon apart from Nutrition which is at night (and is usually at night from what I've heard). My particular schedule has 2 days of lecture and 1 clinical day because my classes land on the same day, but some other groups have 3 days of lecture and one clinical day. Clinical is typically from 7am-4pm or 6:30am-3:30pm one day a week for the first semester. As far as your commute goes, if you can't help it then it's fine. I have students in my cohort who commute everyday and live in Mission Viejo and Monterey Park that drive about 45 minutes back and forth everyday then spend another 10 minutes parking. It's not ideal, but it's not bad at all besides the fact that it cuts into your study time and you will probably hit traffic at the times you will be leaving clinical and class.

Park in lot 1 and go onto the sidewalk, you should see current nursing students at a table on your right

I'm sorry this is such a long process, guys. I remember exactly what it felt like to check your email every 30 seconds and still not receive anything. But I suggest that you all take the next few days to do something fun and enjoy yourself knowing that you did the best you could and that you've made it this far. My cohort received notice of our interviews 11 days before it was scheduled, but it was nothing compared to waiting for those acceptance letters. Just take a deep breath and know that I'm rooting for you all!!

It is possible, and there are people in my cohort that do that. However, I do not recommend it. I worked full time (36-40 hrs/week) while taking all of my prereqs, and did not find that to be difficult at all, but I am also someone who sleeps a full 8 hours a night and fits in A LOT of time to study and I am not working. So it also depends on how you plan on managing your time. Another thing is that the students I know who work while going to school have already taken pathophysiology and pharmacology in pre-nursing. I didn't take either of these classes beforehand, so I feel like it would be impossible to balance fundamentals, patho, and pharm while going to school. With that said, it is definitely doable to work 12-18 hours a week, but I highly recommend not working if you are taking both pharm and patho in your first semester. Also, if you need to work, the first semester is probably the best time to because second and third semester are much less manageable in terms of time.

yes, that is true but only because there are 100 invitations and 80-85 spots open, so statistically your chances of getting in are very good. It is also believed (but not necessarily true) that spots are already predetermined by the time of your communication exercise and that the exercise is just to get to know how you communicate and follow directions. To my knowledge, even a terrible performance won't do you much harm. There were people in my interview group who did not finish the exercises in the allotted time and still got into the program.